City of Sin (Yanyu Jiangnan)

A Returned Legend

The emperor of Lithgalen was currently in a meeting room with the five princes and other officials that had real power. A screen of light in the centre of the hall was currently showing the scene of Syon’s defeat, as well as the defeat of the third fleet. The image was extremely blurred, to the point that one could barely see any figures, and when it finally got to Syon’s battle all they saw was a flash of crimson light before Syon’s white peacock fell to the earth. Before the image cut off, they could see the prince himself in someone’s hands.

Although no one here was a stranger to death, for Syon to fall so easily was unimaginable to them all. One druid spoke up at the sight, “One cannot underestimate this Richard. I believe he has the strength of an epic being, there aren’t many who can fight with him. I’m not certain of victory if I engage, we need to mobilise.”

“We should have the army intercept him!” one prince proposed, “We cannot let him go deeper into our lands; the dirty feet of the human cannot taint our forests!”

“Intercept how? His Highness Syon mobilised 20,000 elites in the Silent Forest, and he was defeated soundly. Rushing into battle will only lead to failure!” another countered.

The Grand Shaman of the Moon Shrine gently tapped his staff into the floor, silencing the entire hall, “I hear Richard brought seven warships, each corresponding to a different moon?”

The prince responsible for intelligence nodded, “It is true. According to the news from my druids, these warships have never been seen before. Some of their attacks were boosted by the powers of the moons.”

“And the soldiers he brought are mainly elves as well, a tribe we have never seen before?”

“Yes, they’re much larger than the descendants we left in Norland. In fact, the weakest of them is level 16, and more than 2,000 are level 17. They have to be a branch of the royal bloodline.”

Everyone in the hall nodded in acknowledgement. Richard’s night elf force was even stronger than the moonblade guards. Those guards were also level 17 at minimum, but they numbered only a hundred.

If Richard or Greyhawk were here, they would have scoffed at the sheer pride behind that statement. In the eyes of these elves, the only way other elves could be strong was to descend from the royal bloodline.

The Grand Shaman nodded, “I believe this Richard is related to the prince that disappeared seven centuries ago.”

“Do you mean Prince Starblaze?” a low question rang through the hall. Starblaze was a widely known name from eight centuries ago, the premier talent of Lithgalen. He had been a genius swordsman, archer, druid, and mage all in one, recognised by Alucia and receiving three different blessings in the enlightenment ceremony. This had made him a shaman of the Moon Shrine, with strength not one whit inferior to the standing Grand Shaman at the time.

Lithgalen held an enlightenment ceremony every year, but only the most important and talented youths stood a chance to receive enlightenment. Fewer than three got even a single blessing every year, and Starblaze’s three were completely unprecedented. He had redefined what it meant to be a genius, becoming the biggest prodify of Lithgalen and someone who could even compare to the best of the ancient era. Battle, planar exploration, magic… he had achievements in every field.

It was said that he owed his success to his unique blessing of wisdom. Few elves had ever seen this option during their enlightenment ceremony, and there was no one who had chosen it ever since the migration to Lithgalen. Although it didn’t directly enhance combat power, it was a holistic boost to every single aspect of his growth. Ever since he received that blessing, not one individual had seen the option in their rituals.

However, for some reason Starblaze was infatuated with demons and the abyss. He had been to the abyss several times, dealing with lords of all sizes, and his tower contained a number of demons as well. He had even led an army of demons to demolish an opponent one time. This was an ultimate taboo to the elves, but he was already a prince at this point and the first in line to the throne. No one wished to fight him, so the matter was put on hold.

However, it wasn’t long after the destruction of the tribe when Starblaze’s world tree was polluted by abyssal energy and withered away. This finally angered the central world tree of Lithgalen, prompting a crusade of powerful individuals to take him out. It was just that when they reached his tree, the entire place was filled with lava and the tower smelled of the abyss. Starblaze himself was missing. When the crusade started to retreat, an abyssal lord rushed out of the tower and attacked them!

The elves paid a huge price before they could finally seal off the abyssal lord, but they had no way to destroy the opponent and could only throw him back to the abyss. Starblaze’s name was never uttered lightly since; some speculated that he had ended up becoming the abyssal lord, but that train of thought was quickly thrown away. He was eventually forgotten by the general populace, all his records destroyed until only princes with access to the imperial private library knew anything about him.

With the silvermoon elves in Norland having been destroyed recently, Richard’s appearance, following and powerful moonforce made everyone think of the fallen prince.

The group spent a good while in silence before the Emperor finally spoke up, “Who knows Richard’s origin?”

Unfortunately, not one of those present could answer this question. Lithgalen remained closed off from mainland Norland, only ever receiving updates on the general situation every decade or so. Even then, they rarely even cared about legends, only paying attention to epic beings and large political shifts. This cadence left them with no knowledge about the new saint runemaster who was now one of the biggest political figures in all of Norland.

Of course, the elves never took saint runemasters seriously in the first place. To them, only the magic arrays passed down by the ancient empire were considered powerful. How could a race of inferior beings improve on elven magic? If one carefully studied history, they would learn that elven magic arrays truly were the basis of runecrafting. Some people even called the things composite arrays to this day. However, any notion that those ancient designs were superior to current-day runes was just wishful thinking; in reality, human runecrafting had reached a point where the elves couldn’t even begin to compare.

In the end, Richard had destroyed the third fleet, killed a prince, and occupied the Silent Forest, but this council didn’t even know whether he was a mage or warrior. Those blurry images of battle couldn’t be analysed at all.

Rage filled the Emperor’s face, “Call every eagle druid that witnessed the scene. Right away!”

It took nearly an hour before three druids arrived at the hall, immediately kneeling at the steps. Even with legendary might, they simply couldn’t withstand the Emperor’s epic might and were forced to the floor.

The Emperor wasn’t in the mood to understand anyone’s hardships, immediately asking them to relay everything they had seen. However, their explanations only left the powerhouses of the Empire with confusion on their face.

The legendary druid was the first to speak, “There aren’t any high-level druidic spells that can be performed without any movement at all. Are you sure you didn’t see him making gestures?”

“I am certain,” the druid replied.

The Grand Shaman slowly spoke up as well, “There are no similar methods for shamans, either.”

The Emperor fell silent, meditating for a few minutes before speaking up, “There is something. Do you all remember the divine spellcasting of the ancient era?”